Most business marketing efforts are split between the competing goals of customer acquisition and customer retention. While new customers translate directly to more business, and greater opportunities for expansion, every business still needs its share of loyal customers to remain afloat. Establishing customer retention as an integral part of your larger marketing strategy is important for the long-term success of your business. Even big corporations rely on their customer loyalty strategies for their business to run smoothly! Find out some of the perks of having loyal customers for your business.
Loyal customers are sustained income
Loyal customers provide continuous revenue that supports your business, while you pursue new customers. By gaining loyal customers, you are also limiting the potential market share of your competitors.
Loyal customers are your focus group
Consider your customers’ point of view. Have you ever stopped to answer a survey for your favourite brand? Have you ever voiced your opinion about a new product at a review request? Do you do that for all the brands or just a select few? Wonder why? Well, loyalty to a specific brand often becomes personal, and can result in a willingness to help it improve. As a brand, this presents a terrific opportunity. Loyal customers can be an ideal focus group when you are looking for opinions and feedback to improve the quality of your products or services.
Loyal customers are forgiving
Let’s admit it: running a business is not always a smooth ride. You will invariably encounter bumps along the road. Technical glitches, lapses in production or services, general slip-ups, lack of communication and other setbacks will challenge you as you grow your business. However, with loyal customers at your side, you know that you stand a better chance in the face of your errors. Loyal customers are more forgiving and tend to give constructive feedback rather than just walking away. They help improve your brand and can be supportive and accommodating, waiving off a single negative experience as an outlier amid numerous positive ones. New customers, meanwhile, are more willing to move on and forget your brand than forgive you and offer you a second chance.
Loyal customers are your unpaid marketers
How much do you spend on your marketing activities every month to sell inventory? Do your ads and billboards guarantee success? Not alone!
Word-of-mouth marketing is one of the most effective ways to build a strong brand reputation, and you don’t need to spend a dollar nor engineer a single marketing campaign to make it happen. All that you need to do is build a base of loyal customers and voila! They can help you spread the, acting as your brand ambassadors and unpaid marketers, raving to people about how good your products or services are and why others should bring you their business.
Build a customer loyalty base
At Bartercard, we help you build a loyal customer base by expanding your business network and opening new doors to reward your patrons. Contact Bartercard today to learn more!
